Ep. 4.22 Cargo

[TVFan]

THE COLD CASE DETECTIVES DELVE INTO THE WORLD OF THE RUSSIAN MOB WHEN THEY RE-OPEN THE 2005 CASE INVOLVING THE MURDER OF A LONGSHOREMAN WHO INNOCENTLY GOT IN THE MIDDLE OF A PROFITABLE HUMAN TRAFFICKING RING, ON "COLD CASE," SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT

Academy Award Nominee Andy Garcia directed the script by Tom Pettit

Lilly Rush: Kathryn Morris
Scotty Valens: Danny Pino
LT. John Stillman: John Finn
Nick Vera: Jeremy Ratchford
Will Jeffries: Thom Barry
Kat Miller: Tracie Thoms
ADA Thomas: Bonnie Root
Ellen Rush: Meredith Baxter
Mike Chulaski (2005): Brad William Henke
Lena Golovnka (2005/2007): Ksenia Solo
Kiril (2005/2007): Michael Massee
Linda Boyka (2005/2007): Brenda Wehle
Kateryna Yechenko (2005/2007): Helena Mattsson
Roy Gardocki (2005/2007): Vyto Ruginis
Longshoreman # 1 (2005): Mike Grief
Superintendent: J.D. Hall
Yuri: Stefanos Miltsakakis

[longislanditalian2]

Really liked this episode a lot.

- Lilly's mom drama- Well played by Kathryn, displaying all of her emotions in that hospital scene. I was unsure about something, does having late stage cirrous mean that she is going to die and what was with Ellen looking at the flower in Lilly's apartment.

- How Lilly comes into work and briefly smiles at Vera before looking like she is going to cry. I liked how she kept her inner emotions down.

- The case- Scotty and the annoying DA, For a second I thought they were going to kiss but I'm glad they didn't. Being abused for sometime, Katrina was so psychologically damaged that seeing Lena's happiness drove her insane. I'm glad that Lena survived and wasn't the killer at all, I loved the ending when Lilly draped her coat over her showing that people in this country are caring and not about to hurt everyone.

Just one more thing, did anyone notice how Lilly was surprised
about what the landlord told her.

Where Katrina worked, since I used to live on Longisland, Bellmore is right by Queens it's in Nassau Country and very expensive to live. But I've been to bellmore and it doesn't look like anything shown on the show.

[coldfan74]

excellent episode.
tragic in every sense. i felt sorry for katarina as well. her reaction to being rejected after longing for someone to rescue her was gut wrenching. i like how this episode wasn't about the killer being diabolical..it was just as tragic for her as for lena who waited and went on believing that she was betrayed. its always sad when victims cannabilize each other just to be part of human society something american citizens take for granted.
one can hope boyka would never survive in prison. yes i will admit that i assumed the mob boss was a man..heh what a twist! what a sick broad :-)
my vote for this episode was one of seasons best.

[TVFan]

I liked this one as well. Some quick thoughts (full analysis tomorrow):

-I knew that they were going to put Scotty and that ADA together. She drives me nuts, but they do have chemistry together.

-I was truly shocked when we learned that the Boss was a woman. I had no idea!

-I actually gasped when Lil told her mother that she has late-stage cirrhosis. This story line with her and her mother is excellent. It's giving Kathryn something to sink her teeth into, and she's doing awesome. I love it!

More thoughts tomorrow, but I do have some and caps over at Pass the Remote until then.

[boxman]

Now see?? This is the kind of gutsy, scum-filled episode I wish the show could do every week or at least more often. The story wasn't perfect, but it delved into the topic so deeply and starkly that I can put it above and beyond the trash that's become of network television. I'm sure I'll annoy a lot of you, but I'm going to say that this is the kind of no-holds-barred episode that "A Dollar, A Dream" should have been. A lot of nice details in this episode. I'm reserving the "Season's Best" vote from this episode, but want to state that it's very, very high on the "Excellent" vote I'm about to cast. Kudos to the writer and director.

I know a lot of you don't like ADA Thomas, but I'm going to go ahead and say that to this fourty-one year old single man, she's one of the most extremely HOTTEST females in a procedural right now. Okay, okay, okay.... Maybe not as hot as Annabeth on "Close to Home", and not even anywhere close to Kat Miller.... But she's definitely HOT HOT HOT. Man, I loved it when she called out Scotty tonight. He ain't gonna stand for it either... I hope he takes down his Hubris a couple of notches and tries a move on this woman. She could do a man good....

Lilly also zoomed right up to the top of my Hotness Scale tonight too. I think a lot of you folks already figured out that I ain't too excited about Lilly (as a television character). Coming into this series in mid-season three, I was immediately exposed to all her weaknesses and foibles that for three years none of y'all knew about. I knew Meredith Stiehm must've tapped Kathryn Morris for a bigger role than the angst-filled Lilly in seasons One and Two. I could feel this one coming tonight ever since the end of Season Three. Man, did Lilly (and Ellen) blow me away tonight. Yes, I was teary-eyed through all the mother-daughter scenes. I'm happy to see that Ellen will be around for a while, now that she's moving in with Lilly. This side story between Lilly and Ellen is really bringing out the best in Lilly. FINALLY we're getting to see firsthand the woman she is, rather than the whiny, overgrown PUKEY, confused young adult she was in seasons One and Two. I've been waiting for a long time to say: Lilly's finally become a character--a woman--I can admire. FINALLY, none of those juvenile "white lies" or silly sexual flirting with suspects that happened oh-too-frequently in Seasons One and Two. Nice, powerful interrogations in this episode without all that silliness... And of course, those incredible scenes with Ellen.

---

Excellent details to the story tonight, from the role Philly has as a shipping point to the location of the motel, the location of Mike's ship, and so forth. Did those docks along the Delaware River remind anyone of the scene from Rocky??

AGAIN, THIRD WEEK IN A ROW that Black Leather Jackets seems to have been demoted (??) as a foreshadowing prop for criminals. Man, they're really pulling this one out. Does this mean that Kat is as terrific of a person as we are finding her to be?? Or is this a REALLY HUGE curveball?? I hope not. Kat Miller is an incredibly positive character and female role model. Not only would I be completely devastated if she had some serious dirt from her past, I think it would be a serious mistake for this series to twist negativity into her character at this point.

I'm not sure what is the significance to the crucifix pendant that Kiril had worn... Didn't seem pertinent to this story, though it did call up memories of the priest in "Sanctuary"....

Coincidentally, I picked up and watched the Special Collector's Edition of "Black Rain" two weeks ago and wondered what Andy "Charlie" Garcia was up to. I'm happy to say I really enjoyed tonight's performance.

---

Anthony, Rest In Peace, man. I love you dude. You died too young, too suddenly, and I still think about you. You opened your heart and honesty to me and I appreciate it. I thought of you throughout this episode as I watched those poor women, forced into slavery. I really hope you're in a better place. You are missed.

[teledetective]

Man . . . I agree with boxman that this episode is one of the best Cold Case has given us so far. I felt so bad for Kateryna, though . . . you just end up feeling so bad for her, even though she did kill the guy. I'm glad they got the boss person in the end, though. (Boss was a woman? All I can say is HOLY **** right now.)

I'll add some more thoughts tomorrow, can't think straight when I'm sleepy . . .

[toddsmitts]

Nice one, overall.

I wasn't TOO surprised that the boss was a woman, since dramatically, it would have to be a character we'd seen before.

What did surprise me was how the foreman Roy's involvement with the story finished so soon. I had more than a small suspicion that he would turn out to be the killer, since I'd seen the actor (Vyto Ruginis) in a number of other roles, usually playing badguys (such as a porn king on "CSI Miami" and a really nasty vampire in the first episode of "Angel"). I just assumed be'd be another badguy here (kind of like how I guess who the "queen" alien was in the movie "The Faculty" after seeing the same actress on "24"). I was quite wrong here.

ANOTHER female killer??? This season's certainly not shied away from having girls or women do the deed, has it? I don't know if there have been more than men this season (I'm too tired at this hour to try and count, let someone else do it), but it's gotta be close, if not equal. I can only assume that they're really trying to make up for last season, when I believe there was not a single female killer.

One thing that really stuck with me? Scotty filing away the closed case box for Mike and the unsolved one for the Jane Doe. Not typical for this show, huh? Boyka and her smuggling ring probably did her in, but we'll probably never know and almost certainly could never prove it. It would be cool if they did come back to that case in a couple of years, but I highly doubt that.

How many other "24" fans recognized Michael Massee, AKA Ira Gaines from Day 1?

[00bomber]

This episode sounds really good but I've gotta get something straight. Does Lily have the cihrosis thing or does her mum?
Hopefully I'll be able to watch it by tomorrow sometime.

[eurache]

Lilly's mum has the cirrosis

I loved of what I could see of this show, I've been busy watching the water coming up to our house last night. So I was peeking on and off, but I did tape it and will review it tonight.

So far, from what I've seen of it, It was pretty good.

did you notice that the guy who gets these girls and worked for that Russian woman (big surprise there ) was wearing a cross? That annoyed me that he wore a sacred cross and was doing this slave job.

[longislanditalian2]

Correction, When Katarina lives in Bellport. Bellport does not look like that at all, acutally it's a middle class area. Hollywood made it glamourize but in real like it doesn't look like that. The only thing that town used to have was a big outlet shop and spindled downhill after a gigantic outlet shop opened in Riverhead.



Acutally I always liked Lilly but I felt so sorry for her. But you can see in her heart she scared of loosing her mother even they had a rocky past

[Naj]

The first thirteen minutes were kinda sluggish for me. Had I not been a fan of the show I may have switched the channel. It took too long to develop the story. But I'm glad I stuck with it because it really became interesting as a case. I may have been trying to convince myself during those thirteen minutes why they couldn't solve a case from 2005 and why had it been closed only have to years. That I over looked because this is a show and not real life. I had no idea how this was going to turn out with the culprit. I so wanted Mike and the girl to be together even though I knew he was dead from the beginning. But the story compelled me to care about them both.


I don't mind the ADA and I don't mind that she and Scotty may not get along but please I don't want to see another detective love romance with and ADA. Can't they find something unique to Scotty without using ideas already used? And actually I don't care to see much with them anyway.

The Lilly/Ellen story really threw me. I never would have guessed it going in this direction but I like it and the fact that mom is moving in with Lilly. Love It!!!! No mention of Christina.

[Naj]

***I can't modify my post above**** . This is the second thread I can't get into I'm not sure why. TVFan what are you doing?

I just wanted to say the boss woman was an interesting idea. Did you see how she looked at Lilly at the end of their interrogation? Like the woman was looking Lilly over?

[longislanditalian2]

Here's the confusing part, when the landlord tells Lilly about what her mother said about her about how smart she is. How come Christina wasn't mentioned especially being that she was Ellen's favorite did this all change??


Naj- I agree about how the writers can't come up with something different about Scotty

[koufax]

I guess I do not agree with the norm. I thought the case story line was just o.k. I thought it was very slow in developing and I felt the characters should have been both more sympathetic and the "bad guys" should have been contemptible, which could have been done through the interrogations. The only part of the episode that was really good was the Lilly-mom storyline.

[coldfan74]

i can see why it was sluggish in some ways. usually we're all used to the characters and suspects being linked together already. and this was a story where it was trying to cram everything from the VERY beginning in how this started to the very end all in 40 minutes and even lesser time because we only get flashbacks. it is quite different than most cold cases that we've seen where the plots were already panned out for us and the focus would become who and why. also a long shoreman being that sympathetic to a teenage prostitute to the point of willing to sell his prized boat would seem unlikely but it didnt distract me from appreciating the portrayal of desperation for humanity. it was quite sad.

i'm also a without a trace fan so i can understand some people being thrown off a little with this episode. i will admit it IS a lttle too close to that show and us Cold Case fans want the format we're used to and love like the previous seasons. :-)

i guess part of the reason i liked this one was because the story was a little deeper and experimental. every now and then i do like a shift from episode to episode. Torn was quite different than Stand Up and Holler and Offender..etc not just with the time periods but how we get a little piece of people's lives and see what happened. for me, this is why its hard to get bored with Cold Case. it always seems fresh each time. the next episode deals with euthanasia. this oughta be interesting :-)

[toddsmitts]

Forgot to add earlier that Mike gave Lena a pendant of St. Nicholas. I thought about that when I first heard it for a few moments before I said to myself "Wait a minute. He gave her a pendant of SANTA???"

Also a bit of a technical goof I caught at the end: When Lena and Stillman are standing at the docks, they magically switch places in the very last shot! And no, they didn't just flip the image if that's what you're thinking, because you can see the same background in the shots.

Speaking of the end shot, that end shot of Stillman seeing Mike was rather pointless. I mean, aside from working the docks as a kid, he had no connection to Mike, at least not compared to, say, Lena. I'd much rather have seen another shot of her and Mike exchanging looks before he faded away.

[LillyKat]

Another excellent episode all the way around. I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish. It was a heavy, emotional episode, particularly with the human trafficking case. I thought the story did its best to try and delve into just how horrible and dark that world is, but I know it was only scratching the tip of the iceberg. The young girls were just so ... well, I just was so sad watching knowing there are girls out there right now going through much, much, much worse with no happy ending in sight. It was compelling.

Of course, the highlight for me was Lilly and mom.

I have been a bit hard on the show of late for recycling the same ol’, same ol’ with mom and Lilly, but they completely took it in a new direction (and of which I loved). It seemed to me that Lilly had perhaps never truly stared down the issue of her own mother’s death/demise, and when she did (as was the case here), she really wasn’t ready to let her go. In spite of everything they’ve been through, Lilly still does love her mom … and she doesn’t want her gone. As hardened as she is by how they grew up together, roles reversed, etc., she's still got the soft spot for mom (as was evident by her reaction to the landlord after hearing how Ellen talks so highly of Lilly ... her eyes lit up, like she couldn't believe it ... )

The scene in the hospital was just brilliant. Its pace, its intensity … it worked on so many levels for me. I loved seeing Lilly soften a bit as she came to terms with almost having lost her mom, yet she was still strong and forceful enough to lay down the law. True, Lilly is being forced into taking care of mom one again, but under a much more grave set of circumstances – ones, perhaps, neither of them ever saw coming and of which has feeling nervous, unsure, scared whilst also seeming to bring them together. Because of this, I got the sense at the end that Lilly actually wanted to have mom with her – arguably for the first time in her life. At the end, when she brings her home … it felt, to me, like she brought her mom back into her life, and that her mom did want to be there – even through the shock and uncertainty of what lie ahead. The chemistry between Kathryn and Meredith Baxter is so tangible, so real, so just as it should be. Both actresses have excelled in bringing this relationship to the next level.

I also related to this aspect of the Lilly/mom storyline because it mirrors what my mom went through with her mom (my grandmother). Two years ago, my grandmother was told exactly what Ellen Rush was told – you cannot have another drop of alcohol or you will die. It scared my grandmother straight after years of thinking she could continue to drink with no consequence. From that point until today, my grandmother took out a new lease on life and has never looked back. It’s brought all of use closer together, but it shouldn’t have taken such a diagnosis to do so. Alas, that is life ... and sometimes, you can start over.

Perhaps this will start something anew for Lilly and mom … I will continue to look forward to how it plays out – and hoping it will for a while.

Great episode. Thank you, CC.

[TVFan]

I liked this one a lot. The case was strong, but like LillyKat, I was most taken with the Lil/Mom story line. It was unexpected (I don't read spoilers), completely different, and exactly what this show needed. Now, if they could only write a romance for Lil that satisfies as much as this mom story. We're watching Lil grow as a character and reflect on the way her role as her mother's caregiver (from the moment she was very young) has changed. As she said to Ellen in the hospital after Ellen said that she thought Lil was getting too old for this:

"I said that when I had a choice."

The same can be said about her attitude toward taking care of her mother. When she had the choice, it was easier to live her life and let her mother deal with her own problems. But now that she's faced with her mother's mortality, it's different. She loves her mother, but it has to be difficult to alternate between anger (over the fact that her mother did this to herself) and complete sadness. And Lil being Lil, I'm sure she'll tuck this difficult time deep within herself instead of leaning on someone who may be able to help. I'm fascinated to see how this story plays out, and I'm excited to see Ellen join the CC family.

[riche]

longislanditalian2 said:

what was with Ellen looking at the flower in Lilly's apartment.

I've been pondering this one.

There was definitely something to that. It may never be mentioned agained but my guess that it harks back to Lilly's childhood. Perhaps Ellen used to put a single flower out, because it was all she could manage, in some attempt to appear house proud, making the place pretty for her girls.

Lilly echoed that to indicate that her house was now their home, and Lilly would be taking care of Ellen, like before.

Just a theory.

[00bomber]

longislanditalian2 said:

Here's the confusing part, when the landlord tells Lilly about what her mother said about her about how smart she is. How come Christina wasn't mentioned especially being that she was Ellen's favorite did this all change??


Naj- I agree about how the writers can't come up with something different about Scotty

I can see what you're saying. Its almost as though she's kinda dropped off the map. I wonder if they're not trying to make another side story out of it or anything.

Anyways the episode was great. It got more interesting as it went on.

Also somethings wrong here I can't highlight with the mouse in the thread or here where I'm typing this. It comes up with a circle with a line through it. You can only do it with the shift key.